Driven by Star Wars and Spider-Man, Memorial Day weekend ticket sales are heading for a red-hot, record-setting four-day gross of $200 million or more.
At the holiday weekend's mid-point, insiders were confident this will be Hollywood's biggest Memorial Day ever. Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones will take top honors again with $61 million or more (for four days as are all of today's estimates). Some industry projections Sunday morning had Clones doing as much as $63-64 million.
Spider-Man will be a very powerful number two again with about $38.5 million.
When the Memorial Day weekend box office dust settles Clones' cume will be over $202 million and Spidey's cume will be over $336 million.
Insomnia will awaken loudly in third place with over $26 million. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron will sprint nicely into fourth place with over $23 million. And Enough will do well enough to round out the Top Five with about $19 million.
Key films -- those grossing $500,000 or more for the four days -- are expected to crack $200 million, an increase of about 12 percent over last year's then record setting Memorial Day total of $178.5 million.
THE TOP TEN
(NOTE: Today's estimates are for the four-day Memorial Day weekend from Friday through Monday. Percentage variations are versus the previous weekend plus last week's non-holiday Monday. Estimates are also indicated parenthetically for the three-day period Friday through Sunday.)
20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm's PG rated franchise installment Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones continued to orbit in first place in its second week with an outstanding ESTIMATED $61.0 million (-33%) at 3,161 theaters (theater count unchanged; $19,298 per theater). Its cume is approximately $202.3 million. (Fox estimated its three-day gross at $48.85 million, which would give it a cume through Sunday of $190.16 million.)
Some insiders were estimating Clones' four day total to be in the $63-64 million range, which would require its three day number to be higher than the $48.85 million Fox was estimating Sunday. Monday's updated estimates could bring a higher four-day projection from Fox based on Clones' Sunday ticket sales.
Star Wars' average per theater was the highest for any film playing this weekend.
Directed by George Lucas, it stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen.
Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace took in $431.1 million in domestic theaters. Its worldwide total (domestic plus international) was $923 million.
Columbia's PG-13 sci-fi fantasy blockbuster Spider-Man was still showing powerful legs, holding on to second place in its fourth week with an enviable ESTIMATED $38.5 million (-22%) at 3,876 theaters (+261 theaters; $9,933 per theater). Its cume is approximately $336.3 million, heading for at least $400 million and quite possibly as much as $450 million in domestic theaters. (Sony estimated its three-day gross at $30.5 million, which would give it a cume through Sunday of $328.3 million.)
Directed by Sam Raimi, it stars Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris.
"3,876 is the highest print count ever. 3,750 (prints) for Shrek was the previous high that was (reached) during the course of their run," Sony Pictures Entertainment worldwide marketing &amp; distribution president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning, noting that Spidey's 261 print increase reflected the fact that "more theaters are demanding Spider-Man."
Looking at the latest records set by Spider-Man, Blake noted, "It was the fastest to $300 million. We hit it Friday on day 22. The previous fastest to $300 million was Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace in 28 days. By Monday we will be at $336.3 million, which will make us the sixth biggest picture of all time, passing Forrest Gump, which did $329.7 million. We're one step away from the Top Five where Jurassic Park has $357 million. And it's the biggest fourth weekend gross ever for three or four days. We've broken a record in each of our first four weeks."
Alcon Entertainment's R rated thriller Insomnia arrived in third place via Warner Bros. to an eye-opening ESTIMATED $26.2 million at 2,610 theaters ($10,038 per theater). (Warners estimated its three-day gross at $21.04 million.)
Directed by Christopher Nolan, it stars Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.
"It's the largest Memorial Day weekend in Warner Bros. history," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning. "We have never opened up a movie (to bigger business over) Memorial Day weekend. Also, it's the largest opening in Al Pacino's career. Dick Tracy did $22 million and The Godfathers didn't open that wide and (they were) many, many years ago. This ties Robin Williams' biggest opening, which was Flubber (which opened Nov. 26, 1997 to $26.7 million)."
Focusing on the film's strong opening, Fellman said, "Insomnia is an Alcon production, distributed by Warner Bros., and financed by Fred Smith of Fed Ex. The success of our opening confirms the opportunity for counter-programming adult themed films during the competitive summer season."
Along those lines, Warners has another example of counter-programming coming with its June 7 launch of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. "That is more female obviously and this (Insomnia) is male," Fellman explained. "And then we're going to hit 'em on the nose with Scooby-Doo (a live action and animation family film opening June 14 based on the long running TV cartoon series. We're looking for a good solid summer here."
As for the strong start the summer is off to, Fellman said, "I've got a four day number of almost $200 million. It's off to a great start. The box office is running about 22 percent ahead of last year and I think we'll continue this record pace through the summer and well into the fall and Christmas. We'll have another huge year at the box office.
"Admissions are up right now by about 12 percent and I think they'll continue to grow. I think the movie business is very healthy. Exhibition has emerged from their downward spiral (and is now) healthy and flush from all these big successes."
Could this be a $10 billion year at the domestic theatrical box office? "It certainly could be," Fellman replied. "I think so. We've got a couple of other strong contenders (besides Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets opening Nov. 15). We've got the sequel to Analyze This (which again stars Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal and is called) Analyze That (opening Dec. 6. We also have a really funny -- I've seen some of it -- wonderful romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant (Castle Rock Entertainment's Two Weeks Notice, opening Dec. 20), which kind of reminds me of When Harry Met Sally. It's a very well made fun movie."
DreamWorks' G rated animated feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron opened in fourth place to a fast paced ESTIMATED $23.3 million at 3,317 theaters ($7,024 per theater). (DreamWorks estimated its three-day gross at $17.8 million.)
Directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, it was produced by Mireille Soria and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
"We're very happy and pleased with the (three-day total of) $17.8 million," DreamWorks distribution head Jim Tharp said Sunday morning. "Going into the weekend, many people (predicting the box office) had us doing about $18 million for the four days.
"I think as schools let out across the country, more of our audience becomes available and it looks good for the long term of the movie."
Weather patterns across the country over the rest of the holiday weekend will also play a part in how Spirit winds up performing. "If it rains like we think it will in a big part of the Eastern part of the country, our number could actually go up a little," he explained.
Looking at the very strong early summer box office, Tharp noted, "The industry is up 15 or 16 percent already. You have to think that this summer based on the number of high profile movies and (just) the number of movies should be up that much over last year if not more."
Last summer saw ticket sales from Memorial Day through Labor Day of about $3 billion. Including the pre-summer weeks starting in mid-May brought the total to about $3.3 billion. A 15 percent increase this summer would mean a pre-summer and summer total of about $3.8 billion.
Hollywood has on tap this summer, Tharp said, "movies that will appeal to a wide variety of people. That's how you actually increase attendance."
And looking down the road, he added, "It could literally be a $10 billion year. I think it's a real possibility." Last year Hollywood set a record with box office grosses hitting $8.4 billion. Tharp pointed out that in the coming months this year will continue to be "very crowded and there's a wide spectrum of movies from late September through the Holiday season." A number of major franchise films are due to arrive in the fourth quarter, including the next installments of James Bond, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Columbia's PG-13 rated thriller Enough kicked off in fifth place to a solid ESTIMATED $19.0 million at 2,623 theaters ($7,244 per theater). (Sony estimated its three-day gross at $15.0 million.)
Directed by Michael Apted, it stars Jennifer Lopez.
"It's very much in the range of Jennifer Lopez's other successful films, which include Anaconda, which opened April 11, 1997 to $16.6 million and did $65.5 million (in domestic theaters), The Cell, which opened Aug. 18, 2000 to $17.5 million and did $61.2 million and The Wedding Planner, which opened Jan. 26, 2001 to $13.5 million and did $60.4 million," Sony's Jeff Blake said.
"Clearly, this is a solid opening. It's a $40 million negative picture and if we can get to the range of these other films (starring Lopez) we'll be in great shape."
Universal and Studio Canal's PG-13 rated romantic comedy drama About a Boy, from Tribeca and Working Title, fell two slots to sixth place in its second weekend with an okay ESTIMATED $10.07 million (+5%) at 1,749 theaters (+542 theaters; $5,755 per theater). Boy, which was made for only $27 million, has a cume of approximately $22.0 million. (Insiders estimated its three-day gross at $7.6 million.)
Directed by Paul Weitz &amp; Chris Weitz, it stars Hugh Grant, Rachel Weisz and Toni Collette.
20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises' R rated thriller Unfaithful slid four pegs to seventh place in its third weekend with a less sexy ESTIMATED $7.8 million (-28%) at 2,401 theaters (-223 theaters; $3,255 per theater). Its cume is approximately $41.3 million. (Fox estimated its three-day gross at $6.23 million.)
Directed by Adrian Lyne, it stars Richard Gere, Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez.
Columbia's release of Revolution Studios' PG-13 rated low budget comedy The New Guy fell three slots to eighth place in its third week with a calm ESTIMATED $5.7 million (-18%) at 2,374 theaters (-313 theaters; $2,401 per theater). Its cume is approximately $24.7 million. (Sony estimated its three-day gross at $4.5 million.)
Directed by Ed Decter, it stars D.J. Qualls.
"It's a $13 million negative that looks like it's going to go north of $30 million (in domestic theaters) so it will be a very solid profitable picture for us," Sony's Jeff Blake said.
Paramount's R rated road rage drama Changing Lanes dropped three rungs to ninth place in its seventh week with a slower ESTIMATED $2.0 million (-40%) at 1,258 theaters (-900 theaters; $1,610 per theater). Its cume is approximately $64.6 million. (Insiders estimated its three-day gross at $1.6 million.)
Directed by Roger Michell, it stars Ben Affleck and Samuel L Jackson.
Rounding out the Top Ten was Universal's PG-13 rated adventure spinoff The Scorpion King in association with World Wrestling Federation Entertainment and Alphaville, down three pegs in its sixth week with an uneventful ESTIMATED $1.8 million (-42%) at 1,527 theaters (-1,028 theaters; $1,205 per theater). Its cume is approximately $87.9 million, heading for $95 million or more in domestic theaters. (Insiders estimated its three-day gross at $1.2 million.)
Directed by Chuck Russell, it stars The Rock.
MEMORIAL DAY OVERVIEW -- 1982 - 2001
Looking back at Memorial Day weekends over the past two decades, it's clear that the holiday's importance to Hollywood has grown enormously.
Memorial Day began looking like a potentially big holiday in 1982 when MGM/UA's Rocky III starring Sylvester Stallone delivered a $16 million knockout punch for four days at 939 theaters ($17,055 per theater). Hollywood hadn't quite yet realized how a Wednesday opening could extend a holiday weekend's impact, so Rocky III entered the ring on a Friday (May 28).
Rocky III ran rings around everything else playing that weekend: 20th Century Fox's suspense thriller Visiting Hours ($5.3 million), Universal's action drama Conan the Barbarian ($5.2 million), Universal's comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid ($4.6 million) and Fox's youth appeal comedy Porky's ($4.5 million). Key films - those grossing at least $500,000 for the four days from May 28-31 - took in $49.9 million.
Only one year later in 1983, Memorial Day box office history was being rewritten with Fox's launch of George Lucas' third Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. This time, the action got underway on Wednesday as Jedi blasted off to $30.5 million for four days (May 27-30) and $41.1 million for six days at 1,002 theaters.
Everything else playing was in a much lower orbit: Columbia's action drama Blue Thunder ($6.2 million), Paramount's romantic dance drama Flashdance ($4.7 million), Columbia's sci-fi epic Spacehunter ($4.6 million) and Orion's drama Breathless ($2.8 million). Key films grossed $61.4 million.
Jedi's Memorial Day record only lasted until 1984, one year later, when Paramount's adventure Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg kicked off on a Wednesday to $33.9 million four days (May 25-28) and $42.3 million for six days at 1,687 theaters.
Nothing else came close: TriStar's drama The Natural ($6.9 million), Cannon and MGM/UA's dance film Breakin' ($4.1 million), Fox's adventure drama Romancing the Stone ($4.1 million) and Universal's youth appeal comedy 16 Candles ($2.9 million). Key films took in $67.3 million.
Memorial Day 1985 wasn't nearly as strong as it had been in '84. TriStar's adventure sequel Rambo: First Blood 2 starring Sylvester Stallone finished first with $25.5 million. With 2,074 theaters, it was the widest release Memorial Day had ever seen to that point.
By 1985 Hollywood was beginning to see the value of being in the Memorial Day marketplace. Unlike past years when only one big new film had opened for the long weekend, 1985 brought a Friday opening for MGM/UA's James Bond adventure A View To A Kill ($13.3 million) and a Wednesday launch for Universal's comedy Brewster's Millions ($9.6 million for four days and $11.5 million for six days). Rounding out the top five were Paramount's long running Beverly Hills Cop ($2.9 million) and Warner Bros.' comedy Police Academy 2 ($1.5 million). Key films grossed $63.6 million from May 24-27.
Memorial Day 1986 saw a big downturn in holiday ticket sales. Cannon/Warner Bros.' opening of the action adventure Cobra starring Sylvester Stallone was first with an unexciting $15.7 million at 2,131 theaters for four days.
MGM/UA's opening of its horror sequel Poltergeist II was a strong second with $12.4 million at 1,596 theaters. Others in the top five were: Paramount's Top Gun starring Tom Cruise, which had opened a week earlier ($9.4 million), TriStar's comedy Short Circuit ($5.5 million) and Universal's comedy Sweet Liberty ($3.1 million). Key films took in $51.9 million from May 23-26.
Memorial Day ticket sales snapped back to life in 1987 with Paramount's opening of Beverly Hills Cop II starring Eddie Murphy ($33.0 million for four days and $40.6 million for six days) at 2,326 theaters.
Second place went to Buena Vista's launch of Ernest Goes to Camp ($6.2 million). Others in the top five: Universal's comedy The Secret of My Success ($3.7 million), Columbia's failed comedy Ishtar ($3.4 million) and New Century's horror film The Gate ($2.9 million). Key films took in $62.2 million from May 22-25.
Memorial Day 1988 took a step backwards with Paramount's opening of Crocodile Dundee II starring Paul Hogan ($24.5 million for four days and $29.2 million for six days) at 2,837 theaters. By 1988, studios were going much wider than ever before.
TriStar's launch of Rambo III starring Sylvester Stallone was second with $16.7 million at 2,562 theaters ($21.2 million for six days). Also playing: MGM/UA's George Lucas drama Willow ($7.6 million), Orion's drama Colors ($2.4 million) and Warners' Tim Burton classic Beetlejuice ($2.0 million). Key films grossed $63.1 million from May 27-30.
Memorial Day saw big time success again in 1989 with Paramount's opening of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade from Lucas/Spielberg with $37.0 million for four days and $46.9 million for six days at 2,327 theaters.
Nothing else stood a chance: TriStar's thriller See No Evil, Hear No Evil ($6.1 million), Universal's drama Field of Dreams ($5.7 million), UA's youth comedy Road House ($5.0 million) and Warners' opening of the drama Pink Cadillac starring Clint Eastwood ($4.4 million for four days). Key films mustered $69.5 million from May 26-29.
Memorial Day 1990 brought a downturn with Universal's opening of Back to the Future Part III with $23.7 million for four days at 2,019 theaters.
Universal also occupied second place with Bird on a Wire starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn ($12.8 million), which had opened one week earlier.
Others in the top five: Buena Vista's blockbuster Pretty Woman ($8.2 million), Orion's comedy drama Cadillac Man starring Robin Williams ($6.5 million) and Buena Vista's opening of its action drama Fire Birds starring Nicolas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones ($6.4 million for four days). Key films took in $69.8 million from May 25-28.
Memorial Day continued to drop in 1991 with Universal's opening of Ron Howard's drama Backdraft with $15.7 million for four days at 1,852 theaters. Second place went to Buena Vista's comedy What About Bob ($11.2 million) and TriStar's opening of the drama Hudson Hawk starring Bruce Willis was third ($7.1 million for four days at 2,071 theaters).
Rounding out the top five: MGM's opening of the now classic drama Thelma &amp; Louise starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis ($6.1 million for four days at 1,179 theaters) and Fox's opening of its drama Only the Lonely ($6.0 million at 1,179 theaters for four days). Key films totaled $69.6 million from May 24-27.
Success was in the air again with Memorial Day 1992 as Warners took first place with Lethal Weapon 3 starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover ($27.6 million at 2,510 theaters). Having opened a week earlier, its 11 day cume was $70.5 million.
Fox's opening of Alien 3 starring Sigourney Weaver was second with $23.1 million for four days at 2,227 theaters. Third place went to Universal's opening of Ron Howard's drama Far and Away starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman ($12.9 million for four days at 1,583 theaters).
Rounding out the top five: Buena Vista's opening of the comedy Encino Man starring Brendan Fraser ($9.9 million for four days at 2,050 theaters); and TriStar's blockbuster thriller Basic Instinct starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone ($3.2 million). Key films accounted for $93.5 million from May 22-25, marking the first time the Memorial Day marketplace expanded within reach of $100 million.
Memorial Day 1993 brought yet another TriStar action adventure opening starring Sylvester Stallone - Cliffhanger with $20.5 million for four days at 2,333 theaters. Second place went to Warners' opening of the comedy Made in America starring Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson ($11.8 million for four days at 2,048 theaters).
Warners' comedy Dave was third ($8.9 million), followed by Buena Vista's opening of the youth appeal drama Super Mario Bros. ($8.5 million for four days at 2,081 theaters) and Fox's comedy sequel Hot Shots! Part Deux ($8.2 million). Key films retreated to $88.1 million from May 28-31.
Memorial Day ticket sales were on the rise again in 1994 with Universal's launch of its comedy The Flintstones with $37.2 million for four days at 2,498 theaters. Warners' second weekend of Maverick starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner was second ($18.6 million. Paramount's opening of Beverly Hills Cop III starring Eddie Murphy was third with $15.3 million for four days and $18.8 million for six days at 2,748 theaters.
Also in the top five: Buena Vista's drama When a Man Loves a Woman ($7.0 million) and Miramax's suspense thriller The Crow ($6.6 million). Key films were once again pushing $100 million -- with $95.2 million from May 27-30.
The marketplace expanded over Memorial Day 1995 although there wasn't as much action in first place. Universal's dramatic comedy Casper opened atop the chart with $22.1 million for four days at 2,714 theaters. Fox's second weekend of Die Hard with a Vengeance starring Bruce Willis was second with $19.0 million. Paramount's opening of Braveheart starring Mel Gibson took third place with $12.9 million for four days and $15.6 million for six days at 2,035 theaters.
Rounding out the top five: Buena Vista's drama Crimson Tide ($12.8 million) and Sony's comedy drama Forget Paris starring Billy Crystal and Debra Winger ($7.7 million). Key films cracked $100 million for the first time with $112.0 million for May 26-29.
Memorial Day 1996 really brought the holiday weekend into its own as Paramount launched Mission: Impossible to $56.8 million for four days and $74.9 million for six days (including Tuesday night previews) at 3,012 theaters. It was the widest release ever for a Memorial Day opening.
Warners' disaster drama Twister was a solid second with $38.0 million in its third weekend. Buena Vista's comedy Spy Hard opened in third place with $10.4 million for four days. Universal's family film Flipper was fourth with $5.4 million. Fifth place went to Fox's drama The Truth About Cats and Dogs ($2.7 million). Key films collected $124.99 million from May 24-27.
What was big in '96 looked smaller a year later as Memorial Day 1997 saw Universal's opening of Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park to $92.7 million at 3,281 theaters for four days (including its Thursday night previews).
Warners' opening of the drama Addicted to Love was a distant second with $11.4 million for four days at 2,007 theaters. Sony's sci-fi drama The Fifth Element was third ($8.0 million), followed by New Line's comedy Austin Powers ($5.6 million) and Paramount's drama Breakdown ($5.4 million). Key films did a hefty $142.9 million from May 23-26.
Memorial Day 1998 saw the marketplace contract again as Sony's Godzilla opened in first place with $55.7 million for four days and $74.3 million for six days at 3,310 theaters. Paramount's sci-fi disaster drama Deep Impact was second with $19.4 million in its third weekend.
Buena Vista's drama The Horse Whisperer starring Robert Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas was third with $14.5 million in its second weekend. Also in the top five: Fox's satire Bullworth starring Warren Beatty ($10.5 million) and Warners' animated feature Quest for Camelot ($6.3 million). Key films grossed $128.97 million from May 22-25.
Memorial Day 1999 was topped by Fox's Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace from George Lucas with $66.9 million for four days at 3,023 theaters, bringing its cume to $207.1 million for 13 days.
Second place went to Universal's opening of its romantic comedy drama Notting Hill starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant ($27.7 million for four days at 2,747 theaters). Universal also took third place with The Mummy ($12.9 million). Rounding out the top five: Fox's romantic thriller Entrapment ($7.2 million) and Sony's opening of its sci-fi thriller The Thirteenth Floor ($4.3 million for four days at 1,815 theaters). Key films took in $136.1 million from May 28-31.
Memorial Day 2000 saw even bigger business than the previous year as Paramount's Mission: Impossible 2 opened to $70.8 million for four days at 3,653 theaters and a six day cume of $91.8 million.
Second place went to Buena Vista/Disney's first wide weekend for its animated feature Dinosaur ($32.0 million at 3,302 theaters). Buena Vista also took third place with Touchstone's action drama Shanghai Noon starring Jackie Chan ($19.6 million). Rounding out the top five: DreamWorks' epic Gladiator ($17.1 million) and DreamWorks' youth appeal comedy Road Trip ($13.5 million for four days at 1,815 theaters). Key films took in a record setting Memorial weekend total of $175.9 million from May 26-29.
Memorial Day 2001 went into the history books as the holiday weekend's biggest ever at the time, led by Buena Vista/ Touchstone's launch of Pearl Harbor with $75.2 million for four days at 3,214 theaters.
Second place went to DreamWorks' second weekend of its animated feature Shrek ($55.2 million at 3,623 theaters). Universal finished third with its action adventure The Mummy Returns starring Brendan Fraser ($19.0 million). Rounding out the top five: Columbia's epic A Knight's Tale ($9.1 million) and Franchise Films and Warner Bros.' drama Angel Eyes ($6.2 million). Key films took in a record setting Memorial weekend total of $178.5 million from May 25-28.
OTHER OPENINGS
This weekend also saw the arrival of Miramax's PG rated comedy The Importance of Being Earnest to an encouraging ESTIMATED $0.53 million at 38 theaters ($13,809 per theater). (Miramax estimated its three-day gross at $0.37 million.)
Directed by Oliver Parker, it stars Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson.
United Artists' R rated drama CQ, released through MGM Distribution Co., arrived to a hopeful ESTIMATED $51,000 at 7 theaters in New York and Los Angeles ($7,286 per theater). (MGM estimated its three-day gross at $40,000.)
Written and directed by Roman Coppola, it stars Jeremy Davies and Angela Lindvall.
SNEAK PREVIEWS
This weekend saw no national sneak previews.
EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend there was no significant activity to report.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films--those grossing more than $500,000 -- took in approximately $200.16 million for the four-day holiday
weekend, up about 12.13 percent from last year when they totaled $178.48 million for four days.
Key films for this four-day holiday weekend cannot be compared to the previous weekend of this year, which was a normal three-day weekend.
Last year, Buena Vista/Touchstone's opening week of Pearl Harbor was first with $75.18 million for four days at 3,214 theaters ($23,391 per theater); and DreamWorks' second week of Shrek was second with $55.22 million for four days at 3,623 theaters ($15,240 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $130.4 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $99.5 million.

An uncertain future awaits The Time Machine.
Originally scheduled for a Dec. 25 release, DreamWorks' $70 million version of the H.G. Wells literary adventure doubtless stands to benefit immensely from its move to March. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, DreamWorks wanted to rework a scene during which large pieces of the moon rain down on New York City.
The Time Machine also ran the risk of stalling in December against The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. As it stands, The Time Machine represents the sole family oriented effects-driven spectacle to hit theaters since The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Guy Pearce, as the inventor whose 800,000-year spin through time takes him to a dark and foreboding world, holds more appeal now than he did at Christmas. His villainous turn in January's The Count of Monte Cristo helped director Kevin Reynolds' remake of the Alexandre Dumas novel earn $48.4 million through Tuesday. Plus, Pearce earned rave reviews for last year's art house smash, Memento.
Accordingly, The Time Machine will zoom past holdovers We Were Soldiers, 40 Days and 40 Night and John Q and land in the No. 1 spot this weekend.
Given its March launch, The Time Machine won't post a dazzling holiday-like opening. Instead, the remake will likely exceed Mission to Mars's $22.8 million debut in March 2000. The Time Machine's fate ultimately rests upon its ability to compete against the upcoming Ice Age, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and Clockstoppers, and, to a lesser extent, Resident Evil and Blade 2.
But the tinkering that has been made to this version of The Time Machine could stop it from earning no more than Mission to Mars' eventual $60.8 million. With its dazzling special effects, this Americanized version of The Time Machine might win over fans of director George Pal's somewhat staid and terribly dated 1960 effort to adapt Wells' novel. But The Time Machineis burdened with a laborious and unintentionally funny romantic predicament, lousy dialogue, stiff acting and monster makeup that Pal would have rejected as silly and fake looking.
Rollerball stands as the most recent example of a remake that crashed and burned with just $18.2 million because director John McTiernan failed to improve upon the original 1975 sci-fi classic.
This should not have happened, considering The Time Machine remains a family affair. Director Simon Wells is the author's great-grandson (The Mexican's Gore Verbinski stepped in to finish the film when an exhausted Wells dropped out 18 days before shooting ended). Wells neither preserves his great-grandfather's vision of evolution or inject complementary new ideas.
The future also offered little solace for Ice Cube when he battled Ghosts of Mars. Director John Carpenter's sci-fi misfire opened last summer with a paltry $3.8 million en route to a down-to-earth $8.4 million. The rapper-turned-actor aims for a return to Friday-like popularity with All About the Benjamins, an action yarn executed strictly for laughs. Bounty hunter Ice Cube teams up with loudmouth grifter Mike Epps in a South Florida-set buddy movie as antiquated as the Tim Hardaway Miami Heat T-shirt that Ice Cube wears through much of the gunplay. It's all about the babes, bullets and big bucks.
The little-known Epps is an annoying substitute for Chris Tucker, whose manic presence drove Friday to $27.3 million in 1995. Tucker declined to reunite with Ice Cube for Next Friday, but the sequel still managed to earn $57.1 million in 2000.
All About the Benjamins should hold more appeal to black audiences than Ghosts of Mars, allowing Ice Cube to enjoy a $10 million-plus opening. Ice Cube shouldn't expect the Benjamins--or Hamiltons and Jacksons, for that matter--to roll in for too long. Showtime, an action comedy built around the inspired pairing of Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro, will likely crush All About the Benjamins when it debuts March 15. Consequently, Ice Cube can expect All About the Benjamins to match Friday at the box office but fall far short of Next Friday.
The war will rage on for Mel Gibson's We Were Soldiers. The Vietnam-era epic will cede the No. 1 spot to The Time Machine after opening last weekend with an excellent $20.2 million. This strong opening demonstrates that audiences are not growing tired of war films in light of the recent failure of Hart's War.
This week's battle against al-Qaida fighters in eastern Afghanistan, which has claimed the lives of eight American soldiers since March 1, did not deter audiences from watching director Randall Wallace's Saving Private Ryan-styled account of the first major encounter between U.S. and North Vietnamese forces. We Were Soldiers made $26.3 through Thursday.
We Were Soldiers' debut falls between Braveheart's $12.9 and The Patriot's $22.4 million openings. Payback, a bloody but more commercial Gibson vehicle, managed a $21.2 million opening in 1999. Bearing this in mind, We Were Soldiers should emerge with a total somewhere between Braveheart's $75.5 million and Payback's $81.5 million.
The arrival of We Were Soldiers put Bruce Willis' disastrous Hart's War out of its misery. The POW camp-set courtroom drama plunged a staggering 69 percent in its third weekend, from $4.4 million to $1.4 million, despite only being dropped from 2,459 theaters to 1,982 theaters. Hart's War has $15 million through Sunday.
The era of the one-man army is possibly over for now in the wake of We Were Soldiers and Black Hawk Down. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral Damage fell by 50 percent in its fourth weekend from $3.8 million to $1.9 million. The terrorist-themed thriller has a lackluster $37.6 million through Sunday.
The Oscar-nominated Black Hawk Down sustained minor damage in the wake of We Were Soldiers. Director Ridley Scott's Somalia-set war epic dropped a respectable 36 percent in its seventh week in wide release, from $3.6 million to $2.3 million. Black Hawk Down has $105.2 million through Wednesday.
Denying pleasures of the flesh proved bountiful for Black Hawk Down's Josh Hartnett. His vow of abstinence for 40 Days and 40 Nights enjoyed a $12.2 million opening, not bad considering that the R-rated comedy is the Hartnett's first solo vehicle. 40 Days and 40 Nights also faced little opposition from holdover Super Troopers, which has $15.9 million through Monday.
40 Days and 40 Nights looks set to match the $34 million earned by director Michael Lehman's previous romantic comedy, 1996's The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Its total through Thursday: $15.7 million.
Denzel Washington's anti-HMO screed John Q continues to connect with anyone willing to listen. The hostage drama eased by just 32 percent in its third weekend, from $12.4 million to $8.5 million, and has $53 million through Thursday. John Q lags somewhat behind last year's Training Day, which had $59.8 million during the same period of play. John Q, though, remains on pace to wind up with a healthy $70 million.
An early grave awaits Queen of the Damned. The chillingly feeble sequel to Interview With the Vampire descended by a lethal 60 percent in its second weekend, from $14.7 million to $5.9 million. Fans of both novelist Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and the late pop singer Aaliyah clearly went out their way to see Queen of the Damned during its opening weekend. With $25.5 million through Thursday, Queen of the Damned has one last weekend to claw its way as close to $30 million as possible before making way for Resident Evil on March 15 and Blade 2 on March 22.
Dragonfly fared somewhat better than Queen of the Damned, but not enough to recall Kevin Costner's glory days as a box office phenomenon. The silly supernatural love story dropped 36 percent in its second weekend, from 10.2 million to $6.6 million, for $20.8 million through Thursday. Dragonfly surpassed the pitiful $15.7 million amassed by Costner's 2001 bomb 3000 Miles to Graceland, yet it won't have the stamina to fly past fellow flops Thirteen Days ($34.5 million) or For Love of the Game ($35.1 million).
Return to Never Land can enjoy one last weekend before Peter Pan receives the cold shoulder from kids. The animated Ice Age will likely inflict Disney's Peter Pan sequel a deadly blow. Still, with $37 million through Thursday, Return to Never Land can still make it to $50 million with a little bit of magic.
Big Fat Liar and Snow Dogs continues to pull in pre-teens too old for Return to Never Land and too young for Britney Spears' Crossroads. Big Fat Liar has $39.8 million through Thursday, with $50 million possible after a $4.9 million fourth weekend. Snow Dogs has $75.5 million through Sunday, after a $2.3 in its seventh weekend, as it continues its run toward $80 million.
Spears might sell more records than fellow pop diva Mandy Moore, but she isn't selling quite as many tickets at the box office. The somewhat risqué Crossroads opened stronger than Moore's wholesome A Walk to Remember, but has experienced corrosive second and third weekend declines. With $31.5 million through Tuesday, Crossroads may fall short of A Walk to Remember's Sunday total of $39.3 million.
The prospect of Oscar glory continues to extend the fortunes of a handful of nominees. Best Pictures nominees Gosford Park and In the Bedroom have $31 million and $28.6 million, respectively, through Sunday. Monster's Ball, starring Best Actress nominee Halle Berry, has $13.1 million through Sunday. Iris, featuring Best Actress nominee Judi Dench, Best Supporting Actress nominee Kate Winslet and Best Supporting Actor nominee Jim Broadbent, has $1.6 million. Amélie, nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture, has $27.9 million, a U.S. box office record for a French film.
Nominated for 13 Oscars, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has $288.6 million through Thursday, with $300 million a slight possibility before Oscar night. New Line does have an insurance policy in the event Peter Jackson's epic fails to win the Oscar for Best Picture, and thus ruin its chances of surpassing Harry Potter's $314.9 million take through Sunday. On March 22, New Line will put The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring back into 2,000 theaters complete with a four-minute preview of the second film in the trilogy, The Two Towers.
A Beautiful Mind slowed by just 12 percent in its 11th weekend, going from $5.3 million to $4.6 million. Nominated for eight Oscars, Ron Howard's biography of mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. has $140.4 million through Thursday. Seems Russell Crowe's temper tantrum at last month's British Academy for Film and Television Arts has not hurt the film, at least not at the box office.

The Producers Guild of America will give out awards tonight, with the teams behind A Beautiful Mind, Moulin Rouge and Shrek among those in contention for its top honor. The producers of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring are also in the running for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award.
The honor is similar to the motion picture academy's best picture prize, and the winner is considered a near shoo-in for Oscar gold. The 1,500-member Producers Guild has correctly predicted the best picture Oscar winner 10 out
of the last 13 years.
A Beautiful Mind, Lord of the Rings and Moulin Rouge are
nominated for both the PGA award and best picture Oscar. But the guild opted for box office hits Shrek and Harry Potter for its other two slots,
while the Academy chose the indie critic faves In the Bedroom and Gosford Park.
The Producers Guild will also hand out awards in three television categories, with such shows as The West Wing and The Sopranos among those in the running.
The teams behind CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Law &amp; Order, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and The West Wing are nominated for the Norman Felton Producer of the Year Award in episodic television-drama.
Contenders for the Danny Thomas Producer of the Year Award in episodic television-comedy are Frasier, Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Sex and the City and Will &amp; Grace.
The nominated producers of Frasier include the late David Angell, who was aboard one of the hijacked planes that crashed on Sept. 11.
Among the David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in longform television nominees are some well-known names--Billy Crystal for HBO's 61*, and Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg for HBO's Band of Brothers.
Husband-and-wife actors Bradley Whitford of The West Wing and Jane Kaczmarek of Malcolm in the Middle will host the guild's 13th annual ceremony at the Century Plaza Hotel &amp; Spa.
Formed in 1950, the Producers Guild has about 500 active members and 1,000 affiliated members.
Here is the full list of nominees:
Darryl F. Zanuck Theatrical Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award in Motion Pictures
A Beautiful Mind, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, David Heyman
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh
Moulin Rouge, Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann and Fred Baron
Shrek, Aron Warner, John H. William and Jeffrey Katzenberg
Norman Felton Producer of the Year in Episodic Television-Drama
CSI Crime Scene Investigation, Jerry Bruckheimer, Ann M. Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, Anthony Zuiker, Jonathan Littman, Sam Strangis, Danny
Cannon, Cynthia Chvatal and William Petersen
Law &amp; Order, Dick Wolf, Barry Schindel, Jeffrey L. Hayes, Lewis H. Gould and Kati Johnston
Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, Robert Greenblatt, David Janollari and Alan Poul
The Sopranos, David Chase, Brad Grey, Mitchell Burgess, Robin Green, Ilene S. Landress and Terence Winter
The West Wing, John Wells, Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, Llewellyn Wells, Christopher Misiano, Alex Graves and Michael Hissrich
Danny Thomas Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television-Comedy
Frasier, David Angell, Peter Casey, Kelsey Grammer, David Lee, Dan O'Shannon, Mark Reisman and Maggie Blanc
Friends, Kevin S Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane, Shana Goldberg-Meehan, Scott Silveri, Andrew Reich, Ted Cohen and Todd Stevens
Malcolm in the Middle, Linwood Boomer and James S. Simons
Sex and the City, Michael Patrick King, Cindy Chupack, John P. Melfi and Sarah Jessica Parker
Will &amp; Grace, James Burrows, Jeff Greenstein, Max Mutchnick, David Kohan and Tim Kaiser
David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Longform Television
61*, Billy Crystal and Ross Greenburg
Anne Frank, Hans Proppe and David R. Kappes
Band of Brothers, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Tony To
Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Robert Allan Ackerman and Lorna Luft
Wit, Cary Brokaw

A small army of media reps and publicists, only mildly nervous following a government warning of possible terrorist attacks, patiently filed through metal detectors in the wee hours of Feb. 12 for the announcements of the 74th Annual Academy Awards nominations. And while the anticipatory buzz was a bit more subdued than usual, Oscar rewarded with a not-exactly-predictable crop of nominees, spreading the wealth among a wide-ranging group of films.
Last year's Best Supporting Actress winner Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock) was looking fresh for the pre-dawn occasion in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &amp; Sciences' Beverly Hills headquarters, wearing a smart black pantsuit. Moments before the announcements, Harden stood in the wings of the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater making excited, pixie-ish faces at one of her handlers, who had the actress present herself for a last-minute check to ensure her dark ensemble was fully buttoned and lint-free. "I love it," Harden whispered gamely as she was inspected. "You've got to do it."
Harden then joined Academy president Frank Pierson to announce the top ten categories of the 24 different Oscar races, including the first ever animated feature film category. And while two expected powerhouse films, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (with 13 nominations) and A Beautiful Mind (with eight), dominated in several categories, many nods were given to films that had already been mentioned as possible Oscar contenders by the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild and other award-bestowing organizations.
In the end, almost every major movie with early buzz came up with at least one nomination. But the real heavyweights landed in the Best Picture category, which features a highly competitive field comprised of A Beautiful Mind, The Lord of the Rings, In the Bedroom, Moulin Rouge and Gosford Park.
The 800-pound gorilla--or is that orc?--among the nominees was The Lord of the Rings, only the seventh film in history to snag a baker's dozen worth of nods (historically, only All About Eve and Titanic scored more with 14), but earned only one acting nod, a supporting nom for Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf. New Line, the studio behind the film, was so dedicated to getting older Academy members to screen the fantasy flick that one member told Hollywood.com he had a DVD of the film hand-delivered within hours when he told the studio he hadn't received a screening copy.
In contrast, the much smaller but equally well-marketed film (from Miramax, the grand champ of Oscar campaigns) In the Bedroom received five nominations, and while none were in technical categories and director Todd Field was bypassed, it snared three nominations in the prestigious acting categories, for Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marisa Tomei.
Still, it may be tough for either the fantastic visuals of Lord of the Rings or the measured angst of In the Bedroom to triumph over A Beautiful Mind, which seems to gather more momentum with each passing day. Not only did star Russell Crowe garner his third consecutive Oscar nomination as expected, supporting actress Jennifer Connelly scored her first nod, as did director Ron Howard. The film is also nominated for adapted screenplay, original score, film editing and makeup. If Crowe--who took home last year's trophy for Gladiator--wins, he'll join the elite ranks of Tom Hanks, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Luise Rainer as a back-to-back Oscar winner.
Perhaps the biggest success story among the nominations was the strong performance of Moulin Rouge, a you-either-love-it-or-you-hate-it modern musical that, thanks to 20th Century Fox's aggressive Oscar campaign and almost a year of relentless stumping from director Baz Luhrmann, scored with Academy voters, tying A Beautiful Mind's eight nods--including Best Picture. But despite accolades for lead actress Nicole Kidman and nods in several technical categories, Luhrmann, star Ewan McGregor and the film's music were snubbed.
Gosford Park also performed admirably, garnering seven nominations, including two for supporting actress. But forgotten was Memento, considered a leading contender throughout most of the year but left behind with but two noms, for original screenplay and editing. Black Hawk Down, the military drama that has seen its popularity skyrocket since its Christmas release, was also downed as a best picture contender but soared with four nominations.
There were a few interesting wrinkles in the acting categories. Provoking the biggest response among the live audience was the nomination for Ali's Will Smith, a major movie star who saw his chances at Oscar gold rise when he was tapped for a Golden Globe nom, then get murkier when he was bypassed by the SAG Awards. Smith joined Denzel Washington (Training Day) among the Best Actor nominees, marking the first time two African American men have been named simultaneously in that category.
Just ten hours before the announcements, Jon Voight was rooting for his Ali co-star. "There'll be a lot of people having sleepless nights," said Voight, out on the town in Hollywood on the night before the nominations were revealed. "I sure hope he gets it." Voight--previously nominated for Midnight Cowboy, Runaway Train and a 1978 Oscar winner for Coming Home--was more sanguine about his chances for being feted for his nearly unrecognizable turn as sportscaster Howard Cosell, and his humility was rewarded with a Best Supporting Actor nod.
Conspicuously absent among the acting nominees was Voight's son-in-law, Billy Bob Thornton, who was widely praised for his roles in three 2001 films, The Man Who Wasn't There, Bandits and Monster's Ball--indeed, Thornton's multiplicity of good work may have divided his Oscar votes. His absence may have opened the field for Academy favorite Sean Penn, nominated for I Am Sam, which otherwise left voters unmoved.
Conversely, the year's most hyped actress, Kidman--like Smith, overlooked by SAG--managed to withstand her own toughest competition--herself in The Others--and pulled off a Best Actress nomination. She joined Spacek, Halle Berry (Monster's Ball), Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary) and Judi Dench (Iris).
The oft-nominated Dench may have had an added lucky charm in the form of her co-star, Kate Winslet, who was nominated in the supporting actress field for playing writer Iris Murdoch, the same character as Dench. The only other time two actresses were nominated for playing the same character was in 1997, when Gloria Stuart and--you guessed it--Winslet were singled out for Titanic.
An actor whose surprise SAG nod may have helped his Oscar chances was Ethan Hawke, whose role as a rookie cop in Training Day landed him among the supporting actor nominees. He edged out the buzzed-about Steve Buscemi (Ghost World) to join Jim Broadbent, McKellen, Voight and Ben Kingsley, still on a roll for his blistering turn in Sexy Beast.
Two grand dames from Gosford Park's Brit Pack of distinguished thespians made the cut in the supporting actress category: Helen Mirren (in her second Oscar nomination) and Maggie Smith (in her sixth!) rounded out a roster that features former Academy Award winner Tomei, three-time nominee Winslet and first-timer Connelly.
Gosford Park's maverick director Robert Altman survived a DGA snub to take home his fifth nomination in the directing category (earlier noms came for M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player and Short Cuts). And while In the Bedroom's Field and Moulin Rouge's Luhrmann join the ranks of directors whose films were nominated as best picture but who failed to be nominated themselves, Black Hawk Down's Ridley Scott and Mulholland Drive's David Lynch managed to nab slots, joined by Howard and Lord of the Rings' Peter Jackson.
In what may be a foreshadowing of things to come, each of the three nominees in the brand-spanking-new animated feature film category--Shrek, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Monsters, Inc. --featured CGI animation over the more conventional ink and paint style. Shrek was frequently discussed as a best picture nominee, but while it didn't make the cut there it was recognized in the adapted screenplay field.
The whimsical and visually inventive French film Amélie was the standout among the foreign film nominees (joining Norway's Elling, India's Lagaan, Bosnia &amp; Herzogovina's No Man's Land and Argentina's Son of the Bride). Amélie was also tapped in four other categories, including art direction and original screenplay.
Paul McCartney proved the old Beatle still has Wings, scoring an original song nomination for his end-title track to Vanilla Sky, the much-debated film's only nod. In the Oscar ranks, McCartney still has a long way to go to match composer John Williams, who is the single most nominated living person with 41 nominations, receiving not one but two this year for his original scores for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Only Walt Disney (with 64) and composer Alfred Newman (with 45) have more.
Speaking of both Disney and Newman, the latter's nephew Randy continued his streak as one of the Academy's favorite composer-songwriters, garnering two nominations--for original score and original song--for his music from Disney's Monsters, Inc.

Best Picture
A Beautiful Mind
Gosford Park
In the Bedroom
Moulin Rouge
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Directing
Robert Altman, Gosford Park
Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind
Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
David Lynch, Mulholland Drive
Ridley Scott, Black Hawk Down
Actor in a Leading Role
Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind
Sean Penn, I Am Sam
Will Smith, Ali
Denzel Washington, Training Day
Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom
Actress in a Leading Role
Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
Judi Dench, Iris
Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge
Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones's Diary
Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
Helen Mirren, Gosford Park
Maggie Smith, Gosford Park
Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom
Kate Winslet, Iris
Actor in a Supporting Role
Jim Broadbent, Iris
Ethan Hawke, Training Day
Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast
Ian McKellen, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Jon Voight, Ali
Original Screenplay
Amélie: written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant
Gosford Park: written by Julian Fellowes
Memento: written by Christopher Nolan
Monster's Ball: written by Milo Addica and Will Rokosand
The Royal Tenenbaums: written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
Adapted Screenplay
A Beautiful Mind: screenplay by Akiva Goldsman
Ghost World: screenplay by Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes
In the Bedroom: screenplay by Todd Field and Robert Festinger
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: screenplay by Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh
Shrek: screenplay by Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman
Animated Film
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Monsters, Inc.
Shrek
Foreign Language Film
Amélie (France)
Elling (Norway)
Lagaan (India)
No Man's Land (Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina)
Son of the Bride (Argentina)
Art Direction
Amélie
Gosford Park
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge
Cinematography
Amélie
Black Hawk Down
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Man Who Wasn't There
Moulin Rouge
Costume Design
The Affair of the Necklace
Gosford Park
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Documentary Feature
Children Underground
Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton
Murder on a Sunday Morning
Promises
War Photographer
Documentary Short Subject
Artists and Orphans: A True Drama
Sing!
Thoth
Film Editing
A Beautiful Mind
Black Hawk Down
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Memento
Moulin Rouge
Makeup
A Beautiful Mind
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge
Music (Score)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
A Beautiful Mind
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Monsters, Inc.
Music (Original Song)
Kate &amp; Leopold
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Monsters, Inc.
Pearl Harbor
Vanilla Sky
Short Film--Animated
Fifty Percent Grey
For the Birds
Give Up Yer Aul Sins
Strange Invaders
Stubble Trouble
Short Film--Live Action
The Accountant
Copy Shop
Gregor's Greatest Invention
A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa)
Speen for Thespians
Sound
Amélie
Black Hawk Down
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge
Pearl Harbor
Sound Editing
Monsters, Inc.
Pearl Harbor
Visual Effects
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pearl Harbor

Hollywood saw sizzling summer-like business in mid-January as moviegoers applauded a wide range of new films.
Ticket sales were up sharply over last year as Black Hawk Down continued to soar like an eagle atop the chart with $18.2 million and the next five films all enjoyed double digit grosses.
The box office was driven by Hollywood having something in theaters this weekend to appeal to virtually all moviegoers. There was a lively kick off for A Walk To Remember (teenage girls and Christian youth groups), a better than prophesized launch for The Mothman Prophecies (supernatural thriller fans, especially males) and a dashing debut for The Count of Monte Cristo (male and female action adventure fans). Moreover, Snow Dogs (families) continued to run hard and fast and A Beautiful Mind (adults and awards driven audiences) had a truly beautiful hold.
Key films--those grossing $500,000 or more--took in nearly $131 million, up almost 42 percent from last year's total of $92.1 million. The weekend's strength came despite major competition on Sunday from two televised football playoff games.
THE TOP TEN
Revolution Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' R rated drama Black Hawk Down held on to first place in its fifth week of release via Columbia Pictures with a still commanding ESTIMATED $18.2 million (-36%) at 3,101 theaters (theater count unchanged; $5,869 per theater). Its cume is approximately $60.1 million, heading for at least $120 million and quite possibly more than that if it does with Oscar nominations Feb. 12.
Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Josh Hartnett.
"Clearly, it's heading to a very exciting place," Sony Pictures Entertainment worldwide marketing &amp; distribution president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning. "We've had several goals on the picture. One was to get it noticed in limited release and get the word of mouth started. And that went well. Then it was to open it wide on a holiday weekend and it certainly passed that test with flying colors, having a record Martin Luther King weekend last weekend. And the next goal was a good solid hold and I think down 36 percent off a holiday weekend and still number one certainly accomplishes that goal.
"I think as we look ahead we feel very good about the weeks to come. It's a quality picture that I think there's great word of mouth on. Probably our next goal and hope will be that perhaps we'll continue to get the kind of recognition the picture has been getting. Much like we got the Directors Guild nomination this week for Ridley Scott, we certainly would like to have the film recognized in that regard (with Oscar nominations). I think its commercial run is well in place and if we continue to get the kind of critical response we're getting and the awards consideration we're getting, it's going to be very hard to put a number on (where it's going) at this point. Much like what happened to Traffic last year and to other films and seemingly is happening, to their credit, to Beautiful Mind, it kind of takes on a life of its own. And certainly, I guess, our next goal is to have the combination of commercial success and artistic recognition that would allow us (with) both to kind of have a multiplier effect on what the (domestic theatrical) number might be."
Buena Vista/Disney's PG rated family comedy Snow Dogs, which was second last week, tied for second place in its third week with a high energy ESTIMATED $13.6 million (-24%) at 2,331 theaters (+138 theaters; $5,580 per theater). Its cume is approximately $39.3 million.
Directed by Brian Levant, it stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and James Coburn.
"I would say that this has been one hell of a weekend for our business," Buena Vista Distribution president Chuck Viane said Sunday morning. "I mean, it's spectacular. I guess we've just offered so much choice this weekend that everybody had a picture to go see.
"And, obviously, the extremely strong holdovers for Snow Dogs and Black Hawk Down were both extremely good. It just all adds up to a wonderful, wonderful weekend. There are six movies that are over $11 million and that's pretty spectacular for the last week of January. All of this is just really good news."
Looking at the strong hold for Snow, Viane observed, "Being off only 23.6 percent for the weekend is a remarkable hold. And, obviously, being at $39 million-plus already is just great. The picture is playing by word of mouth. When a picture can hold up this strong with five new films coming in its face, then I would suggest that it's going to be around for a long time."
Asked where Snow is heading in domestic theatrical release, Viane replied, "Well, I know it's in the $70 millions now, but how high I don't know."
Warner Bros. and Pandora's PG rated youth appeal drama A Walk To Remember opened in a virtual tie for second place with a brisk ESTIMATED $13.57 million at 2,411 theaters ($5,626 per theater).
Directed by Adam Shankman, it stars Shane West and Mandy Moore.
Industry estimates Sunday had Walk somewhat lower in the $12-13 million range, but Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said he anticipates stronger than usual Sunday business because of extensive promotion Warner Bros. has done within the Christian community and with Christian media to bring the film to their attention.
"The reason, I would assume, that (others have it estimated lower) is that they probably (have projected) Sunday at around $3 million, which would bring it down to $12.5 million," Fellman said.
"The picture performed very well on Friday and was up 10 percent on Saturday, which is following a pattern that most teen movies would follow--which would mean your Sunday number would probably be close to $3.4 million or maybe $3.5 million."
Pointing out that the film "is very Christian-based," Fellman explained that, "the effort has been made through the Christian community (to promote the film). They have claimed to us that people are going to go to church today and they're all going to talk about (the film). This is the sermon of the day. And they're all going to take their families to see A Walk To Remember today. Where I have told them that the pattern seems to be one that would indicate not that strong a Sunday (for a teen appeal film), they're very optimistic that their Sunday is going to be very good. So I'm going to support them (with a stronger estimate) until proven otherwise."
Asked why overall business is so good this weekend, Fellman replied, "I think you create a momentum when people go to the movies and enjoy the movies. We had the biggest year at the box office (in 2001) that we've ever had. And we had this huge Christmas. People went and they enjoyed and they saw trailers (for upcoming releases) and they're going.
"the economy is suffering a little right now and when the economy suffers the entertainment industry and our movie business always picks up. There are a lot of movies out there. There's good diversity in who they reach. I think all the demographics were covered this weekend--young males, older females, Academy Awards, action. Everything was out there.
"And we'll see today. We'll see if the Christian groups support us (with Walk). And we'll see what happens to Monte Cristo and Lord of the Rings and Kung Pow with these two big (football playoff) games on today. We've got a female (appeal movie up against) football, so it doesn't matter to us."
Sony's Screen Gems division launched Lakeshore Entertainment's PG-13 supernatural thriller The Mothman Prophecies exceeded industry expectations to arrive in fourth place with a fantastic ESTIMATED $11.8 million at 2,331 theaters ($5,063 per theater).
Mothman was reportedly produced for about $42 million by Lakeshore. Screen Gems is said to have acquired domestic rights in the area of $15 million, which should make it very profitable for Sony given the level of business to which it opened.
Directed by Mark Pellington, it stars Richard Gere and Laura Linney.
"It was a little sleeper for Screen Gems that Screen Gems did their usual great publicity job on," Sony's Jeff Blake said Sunday morning. "It certainly is a picture that had a great cast and a major star in Richard Gere, but really was an interesting picture. (It's) certainly not a straight horror picture. It's a picture about creepy supernatural occurrences that really kind of caught a little more of the public's imagination than a lot of people predicted.
"I think this is a good solid opening for us and the word of mouth on this picture is going to be good. I think it's a real creepy thriller much in the way that pictures like The Others were that kind of creep on the market and really get a nice word of mouth going. We feel real good that it got off the start it got off to and that it will hang in there. It's a very crowded market, so as usual I give a lot of credit to the Screen Gems team for breaking through. The Others opened to $14 million and word of mouth got them to $100 million. We certainly hope the same pattern happens for us."
Universal, DreamWorks and Imagine Entertainment's PG-13 rated drama A Beautiful Mind fell one peg in its sixth week to fifth place, showing sensational post-Golden Globes legs with an ESTIMATED $11.67 million (-1%) at 2,237 theaters (+12 theaters; $5,215 per theater). Its cume is approximately $93.0 million, heading for $150 million or more in domestic theaters depending on how it performs in terms of Oscar nominations Feb. 12.
Directed by Ron Howard, the Brian Grazer production stars Russell Crowe, Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly.
"We're very happy with A Beautiful Mind," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said Sunday morning. "the story of the weekend is the 1 percent off. That's the best hold (of the weekend). No one's seen a hold like this in a long time. Saturday's business was up 14 percent from last week."
Asked if Mind's four Golden Globe wins, including best picture/drama, were a key reason for its strong hold, Rocco replied, "Absolutely. (It's) the Golden Globes, the visibility we've gotten from the Golden Globes and the word of mouth on the film. We were up (after the Globes) like 6 percent, 8 percent and 9 percent on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Business was up from the previous week."
Focusing on the benefit films get from exposure and wins on the Globes and the Oscars, Rocco noted, "they're globally televised. You get a lot of publicity and good will (because) they're such broadly televised shows."
Buena Vista/Touchstone and Spyglass Entertainment's PG-13 rated adventure The Count of Monte Cristo arrived in sixth place to a promising ESTIMATED $11.5 million at 2,237 theaters ($5,729 per theater).
Directed by Kevin Reynolds, it stars Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce and Richard Harris.
"The Count is doing very well," Buena Vista Distribution president Chuck Viane said Sunday morning. "I just (saw) the CinemaScores and in all six (demographic) quadrants we were A-plus and with our own college network (of exit polls) we scored an excellent, which is great. We're so, so pleased with that. The numbers are wonderful and we'll expand the run. We'll add another couple hundred (theaters) this week. Because the picture's so strong, we're going to chase its success."
New Line Cinema's PG-13 rated drama I Am Sam went wide in its fifth week, placing seventh with a terrific ESTIMATED $8.33 million at 1,268 theaters (+1,287 theaters; $6,565 per theater). Its cume is approximately $8.5 million.
Sam's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Jessie Nelson, it stars Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer.
"I think Sam's expansion's terrific," New Line distribution president David Tuckerman said Sunday morning. "We're really thrilled. $6,665 for per screen average is great."
In the case of Sam, the film is not being driven by critics honors and other awards. "It's another one of those movies that the public really likes," Tuckerman said. "Despite the fact that we got mixed reviews, the public really likes it. It's like Life As a House, once the public gets to see it they really like the film."
New Line Cinema's PG-13 rated epic The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring fell five slots to eighth place in its sixth week with a slower ESTIMATED $8.03 million (-36%) at 2,703 theaters (-563 theaters; $2,969 per theater). Its cume is approximately $258.7 million, heading for $300 million or more in domestic theaters.
Directed by Peter Jackson, Rings' ensemble cast is led by Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen.
20th Century Fox's PG-13 rated parody of martial arts films Kung Pow: Enter the Fist entered the marketplace in ninth place with a dull ESTIMATED $7.27 million at 2,476 theaters ($2,936 per theater).
Steve Oedekerk, who wrote and directed, also stars in the film.
"We're pretty pleased with that number actually," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said Sunday morning. "The cost is low and we'll be in profit by the end of the week."
Rounding out the Top Ten was Paramount and MTV Films' opening of the PG-13 rated youth appeal comedy Orange County, down five notches in its third week with a quiet ESTIMATED $4.6 million (-48%) at 2,317 theaters (theater count unchanged; $1,985 per theater). Its cume is approximately $34.2 million, heading for $45-50 million. Directed by Jake Kasdan, it stars Colin Hanks and Jack Black.
OTHER OPENINGS
This weekend also saw the arrival of TriStar's PG-13 rated Japanese animated feature Metropolisto a lively ESTIMATED $0.1 million at 9 theaters ($11,072 per theater).
"It was really well reviewed (and got) four stars from Roger Ebert," Sony's Jeff Blake said Sunday morning. "Almost unanimously (it got) three and a half to four stars. It's really a very interesting Japanese animated film that Columbia TriStar Home Video acquired and will be going out with. It's having a special pre-release under the TriStar label. (Averaging) $11,072 for a picture that we're just giving a really specialized release to is a pretty good start."
Fine Line's R rated drama Storytelling arrived to an encouraging ESTIMATED $0.082 million at 4 theaters ($20,410 per theater).
Written and directed by Todd Solondz, it stars Selma Blair and Robert Wisdom.
Miramax's R rated drama Pinero opened to an okay ESTIMATED $0.05 million at 14 theaters ($4,000 per theater).
Written and directed by Leon Ichaso, it stars Benjamin Bratt.
Miramax's R rated drama The Son's Room opened at one theater in Los Angeles to a slow ESTIMATED $4,500.
Directed by Nanni Moretti, it stars Moretti and Laura Morante.
SNEAK PREVIEWS
There were no national sneak previews this weekend.
EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend USA Films' R rated whodunit Gosford Park, a likely Oscar contender, continued to widen in its fifth week with a still merry ESTIMATED $2.93 million at 756 theaters (+98 theaters; $3,875 per theater). Its cume is approximately $16.1 million.
Directed by Robert Altman and starring an extensive ensemble cast, it was written by Julian Fellowes and produced by Altman, Bob Balaban and David Levy.
"the remarkable thing is the effect the Golden Globes has had on the film," USA Films distribution president Jack Foley said Sunday morning. "You could see it last week where the grosses actually ascended just about daily from Monday after the Globes--and this is just after the best director (award). That was really exciting.
"We were concerned about this weekend, particularly playing against a holiday weekend last weekend. It seems that the impact carried into the weekend from the Golden Globes. To be down 14 percent is amazing, particularly in this weekend where the competition is so tough with four new movies in the marketplace and a couple which are directly competitive to this film."
Foley pointed out that, "the jump from Friday to Saturday was an increase of 70 percent where in the last few weeks the Friday to Saturday increase has been about 50 percent to 56 percent, in that range. It's doing really well. It's just hanging (in there) beautifully. It seems to be settling in very comfortably with its core (audience) and at very high numbers. From theater to theater the grosses are terrific."
Universal's R rated fantasy thriller Brotherhood of the Wolf expanded in its second week to a promising ESTIMATED $1.57 million at 290 theaters (+183 theaters; $1,573 per theater). Its cume is approximately $4.2 million.
Directed by Christopher Gans, it stars Samuel Le Bihan.
Lions Gate Films' R rated drama Monster's Ball added theaters in its fourth week with a hopeful ESTIMATED $0.2 million at 11 theaters (+3 theater; $17,750 per theater). Its cume is approximately $1.1 million.
Directed by Marc Foster, it stars Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger and Peter Boyle.
Miramax's R rated romantic comedy Italian for Beginners to an encouraging ESTIMATED $0.055 million at 3 theaters ($14,058 per theater). Its cume is approximately $0.14 million.
Directed by Lone Scherfig, it stars Anders Berthelsen.
INTERNATIONAL
Universal's international division reported that
Spy Game opened in Australia last Thursday to $0.93 million on 190 screens. Ocean's Eleven placed first Down Under with Spy neck and neck with Lord of the Rings for the number two spot. Universal has limited international rights on Spy, which it has also released in Belgium and Switzerland. Universal's Spy's international total is $2.1M.
In the U.K., Long Time Dead grossed $0.44 million on 217 screens for Friday and Saturday in its second weekend. Dead ranked sixth on the British chart and had a nine day cume of $1.7 million.
American Pie 2 finished third for the weekend in Mexico, behind the openings of Vivir Mata and The One with a two day gross of $0.27 million on 235 screens. Its cume is $4 million, which is 220 percent ahead of the original American Pie. The sequel will pass the original's final gross of $4.4 million later this week.
In Argentina, Pie 2 was fourth in its third week with a 3-day gross of $55,000 on 60 screens, down only 18 percent. It followed the openings of Vanilla Sky and Amélie and week nine for Harry Potter. Pie 2's 17-day cume in Argentina is $0.5 million.
In Brazil this weekend, Pie 2 grossed $41,000 on 95 screens, bringing its 37 day cume to $3 million.
Pie 2's overall international cume to date is a sexy $135.4 million.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films--those grossing more than $500,000--took in approximately $130.75 million, up about 41.96 percent from last year when they totaled $92.1 million.
This weekend's key film gross for three days cannot be compared to the previous weekend of this year, which was a four day holiday weekend.
Last year, Sony's opening week of The Wedding Planner was first with $13.51 million at 2,785 theaters ($4,851 per theater); and Paramount's third week of Save the Last Dance was second with $9.78 million at 2,561 theaters ($3,818 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $23.3 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $31.8 million.

Prior to Sept. 11, Hollywood expected little in the way of brisk business during the last weekend of January. Then, in the wake of the terrorist attacks, NFL officials pushed back the Super Bowl one weekend to Feb. 3.
That prompted Hollywood to take decisive action.
Mandy Moore's A Walk to Remember and Josh Hartnett's 40 Days and 40 Nights were scheduled pre-Sept. 11 to debut against Super Bowl celebrations.
Miramax pushed back 40 Days and 40 Nights to March 1, but now Moore must fend off Richard Gere's The Mothman Prophecies, director Kevin Reynolds' The Count of Monte Cristo, the martial arts spoof Kung Pow: Enter the Fist and the expansion of Sean Penn's I Am Sam.
The Count of Monte Cristo and The Mothman Prophecies will likely slug it out as this weekend's top new choice.
How many times can Hollywood remake Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo? Not as many times as Hollywood cares to revisit Dumas' The Three Musketeers, but still enough to substantiate claims that studio executives have run out of any vaguely original ideas. Ironically, Reynolds' costume adventure fled its October release to avoid a bloody battle with director Peter Hyams' The Musketeer.
The Count of Monte Cristo look likes it will emulate Hyams' hyperkinetic The Musketeer, which opened Sept. 8 with $10.3 million without the benefit of a familiar face playing D'Artangan, but ultimately only earned an unimpressive $27 million.
Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce star as the childhood friends turned enemies when both fall in love with the same woman. Unfortunately, Reynolds brings such little energy to Caviezel's transformation from wrongly imprisoned dupe to vengeful nobleman that audiences might find themselves pining for the dumb-downed but high-kicking antics of The Musketeers.
At the end of the day, The Count of Monte Cristo isn't going to make anyone forget that Reynolds directed Waterworld.
Richard Gere is looking to score his first hit in five years sans Julia Roberts. He suffered two major flops in 2000--Autumn in New York ($37.8 million) and Dr. T &amp; the Women ($13.1 million)-after reuniting in 1999 with his Pretty Woman co-star for the smash hit Runaway Bride ($152.3 million). The Jackal earned $54.9 million in 1997, but that modest gross can be attributed to pairing Gere with Bruce Willis. Gere's last solo hit: 1996's Primal Fear ($56.1 million).
Based on a true story, The Mothman Prophecies features Gere as a reporter investigating a series of strange events and visions afflicting a small West Virginian town. Directed by Arlington Road's Mark Pellington, this supernatural-tinged drama could capitalize on the success of fellow PG-13 chillers The Sixth Sense and The Others. Gere, though, might want look toward May's Unfaithful as his best chance of breaking out of his slump.
So Mariah Carey's Glitter bombed. That isn't stopping bubblegum pop divas Mandy Moore and Britney Spears from trying their hand at conquering the silver screen. Spears' Crossroads opens Feb. 15, which gives Moore three weeks to establish her acting credentials.
After a brief appearance in last summer's The Princess Diaries, Moore headlines A Walk to Remember as a mousy minister's daughter who falls for rich stud Shane West.
That A Walk to Remember is based on Nicholas Spark's popular novel should guarantee initial interest from non-Moore fans. However, what is essentially another disease-of-the-week tearjerker should fare slightly better than Glitter ($4.2 million) and On the Line ($4.3 million) with 'N Sync's Lance Bass and Joey Fatone.
Cross What's Up, Tiger Lily? and Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the result seemingly is Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Steve Oedekerk doubles as star and director in this knockabout farce about a theater patron who somehow ends up trapped inside the old kung fu flick Savage Killers.
Oedekerk is best known for directing the anything-blows Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, so his presence far from guarantees a huge turnout this weekend. If anything, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist might attract die-hard martial fans open to the idea of Oedekerk poking fun at their favorite genre. Otherwise, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist won't become the chop socky equivalent of Scary Movie.
Already dismissed by numerous critics as Rain Man meets Kramer vs. Kramer, I Am Sam expands this weekend to 1,000-plus theaters after a low-key limited run that yielded $182,229 through Monday. Sean Penn stars as a mentally challenged father fighting to regain custody of his 7-year-old daughter. Michelle Pfeiffer is Penn's lawyer.
New Line had hoped that I Am Sam would emerge as an Oscar contender, but lukewarm reviews now make that an unlikely prospect. Without Oscar respect, I Am Sam must rely on its Beatles-driven soundtrack to generate interest.
Aside from Steven Soderbergh, Ridley Scott currently ranks as Hollywood's hardest-working director.
For his efforts, Scott's enjoyed two $100 million hits in the past two years, Gladiator and Hannibal. If Soderbergh can direct three consecutive $100 blockbusters in a row--Erin Brockovich, Traffic and Ocean's Eleven--Scott surely is up for the task.
Scott guns for his third smash with Black Hawk Down, the brutal recount of a 1993 battle between U.S. troops trapped in war-torn Somalia, which stormed this past Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend into 3,101 theaters after three weeks in limited release.
Black Hawk Down easily unseated The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring as the nation's top film. It has $39.8 million through Wednesday after a $33.6 million four-day weekend tally. It ranks as the second-highest January opening behind 1997's Star Wars: Special Edition reissue.
Scott's war drama should continue to dominate the box office at least until the Feb. 8 arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral Damage and director John McTiernan's Rollerball remake.
A $100 million total seems likely for Scott. Sturdy reviews should also result in several high-profile Oscar nominations. The sense of patriotic pride that turned the similarly themed Spy Game and Behind Enemy Lines into modest hits still lingers, offsetting minor criticism that the film is one long, gory shootout. Also, the last time stars Josh Hartnett and Tom Sizemore and producer Jerry Bruckheimer went to war, they scored a $198.5 million hit in Pearl Harbor.
For the MLK holiday weekend, Disney let the Snow Dogs out, a moderately entertaining family comedy revolving around a fictional Alaska mushing race called the Arctic Challenge.
Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as a Miami dentist who heads to Alaska to find out more about his late biological mother. Northern Exposure-style antics aside, Gooding bonds with both the mushing dogs willed to him and the father (James Coburn) he never knew.
Snow Dogs astonished everyone by earning $23.7 million during the MLK holiday weekend, and has $25 million through Wednesday. That makes it the fourth-best January opening. Perhaps it should not have come as that much of a surprise considering Snow Dogs experienced sellouts at 85 percent of the 960 theaters that sneaked the film Jan. 5. Besides, there's only so many times that parents can or will take their children to see something other than the aging Monsters, Inc., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
That the eponymous heroes of Snow Dogs bark rather than talk might prevent the film from becoming a runaway smash on the scale of last year's Dr. Dolittle 2 and Cats and Dogs. Accordingly, Snow Dogs should end up with less than Dr. Dolittle 2's $112.9 million and Cats and Dogs's $93.3 million.
Snow Dogs might be a surprise hit, but it isn't likely to reverse the notion that Gooding is unwilling to stretch creatively since winning an Oscar for Jerry Maguire. Beyond giving a sterling performance in Men of Honor, Gooding's allowed himself to slum in moronic thrillers (Instinct, Chill Factor, the straight-to-video A Murder of Crows). He did enjoy two hits in 2001, but only as an ensemble cast member of Pearl Harbor and the amusing Rat Race.
Serving as a straight man to eight crafty canines isn't going to help his cause. Nor is spending much of Snow Dogs falling down and yelling at the top of his lungs.
Snow Dogs does represent a return to the doghouse for director Brian Levant. His Beethoven howled its way to $56.9 million in early 1992, so he knows a thing or two about handling dogs. He also could do with a hit after the ill-conceived The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.
Is Colin Hanks a chip off the old block?
Orange County, the first feature film lead role for Tom Hanks' son, opened Jan. 11 with a zesty $15 million and enjoyed a $10.5 million MLK holiday weekend. Most of the credit should go to the aggressive campaign launched by MTV Films, which played up the presence of Jack Black. A wise move, considering Black's Shallow Hal opened in November with $22.5 million and ended up with a fat $69.6 million.
Orange County's total through Wednesday is $29.2 million. The youth comedy, featuring Hanks as an aspiring writer desperate to attend Stanford University, should remain an alternate this weekend for teens too cool for A Walk to Remember and apathetic toward Sunday's NFL Conference Championships.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring should generate an additional $8 million despite its fall from the top office top spot. Peter Jackson's epic fantasy already has $250 million through Wednesday--soundly supplanting Rush Hour 2 as New Line's biggest hit domestically--with a precious $300 million total all but inevitable. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring will no doubt see its decrease in earnings slowed in weeks to come should this first of three films based on author J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy secure a number of high-profile Oscar nominations.
The challenge now before The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: to surpass Harry Potter. The boy wizard fell out of the Top 10 over the MLK holiday weekend after 2 ½ months in release and a $309.6 million total through Monday.
A Beautiful Mind's victory at last weekend's Golden Globes--it earned Best Picture (Drama) while Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly walked away with acting--will help Ron Howard's biography of tortured mathematical genius John Forbes Nash Jr. retain its momentum. After three weekends in wide release, A Beautiful Mind has amassed $80.1 million through Wednesday. That is a formula for a possible $120 million tally, or more if it dominates the Oscars.
The Royal Tenenbaums' Gene Hackman won the Golden Globe for Best Actor (Comedy/Musical), which should keep Wes Anderson's quirky family farce very much in the minds of moviegoers. The Royal Tenenbaums has $38 million through Wednesday, following a strong $5.3 million MLK holiday weekend at only 997 theaters.
Even more impressive is the outstanding performances by two other Oscar contenders, Gosford Park and In the Bedroom.
The comical murder mystery Gosford Park finds influential director Robert Altman at his most playful. Also serving as an examination of the British class system, Gosford Park looks set to become Altman's most popular film since he skewered Hollywood practices with 1992's The Player ($21.7 million). Gosford Park expanded Jan. 11 from 131 theaters to 518 theaters, jumping from $1.5 million to $3.6 million. Its total through Wednesday is $12.8 million, following a MLK holiday weekend haul of $4.1 million.
In the Bedroom, with Tom Wilkinson and Golden Globe winner Sissy Spacek coping with the shooting death of their son, also expanded Jan. 11, from 207 theaters to 424 theaters with great success. Todd Field's directorial debut has collected $8.6 million through Wednesday.
In the Bedroom should grow stronger in coming weeks if, as expected, it's blessed with a handful of Oscar nominations. The drama is Miramax's best shot at landing a Best Picture nomination given that The Shipping News is struggling to overcome lukewarm reviews and a poor box office total of $7.9 million through Monday in limited release.
The bell looks set to ring on Ali now that the MLK holiday has come and gone. Michael Mann's biography didn't benefit from Muhammad Ali's televised 60th birthday celebration, and poor word of mouth has hit the film harder than punch by Joe Frazier. Ali's total through Monday is $57.2 million, a disappointment considering the film's $105 million budget.
Heist yarn Ocean's Eleven is still on a roll, having racked up $172.4 million in ill-gotten gains through Wednesday.
New competition in Snow Dogs saw Monsters, Inc. and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius take a sharp tumble during the four-day holiday. Monsters, Inc. has $249.9 million through Monday, surpassing Toy Story 2 ($245.8 million) as the highest-grossing Disney/Pixar offering. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius has $74.1 million through Monday, with $80 million a likely landing spot for the pre-teen fly boy.
Five new wide releases Friday finally means, at long last, good riddance to deserving underachievers Vanilla Sky ($94.1 million) and Kate &amp; Leopold ($43.2 million).

The Oscar race was kicked up a notch last week with the announcement of the 2001 Broadcast Film Critics' Association Awards, held Jan. 11 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
A Beautiful Mind walked away with the top honors, receiving awards for best movie, best actor (Russell Crowe), best supporting actress (Jennifer Connelly) and best director (Ron Howard, who tied with Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann).
In other categories, Sissy Spacek received the best actress award for In the Bedroom and Ben Kingsley won best supporting actor for Sexy Beast.
Established in 1995, the Broadcast Film Critics Association represents 163 television, radio and online critics in the United States and Canada. The organization presents its Critics' Choice Awards each year to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking.
For those of you keeping track, here's the final tally:
BFCA winners for 2001
Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind
Best Actor: Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind
Best Actress: Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom
Best Supporting Actor: Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Connelly - A Beautiful Mind
Best Acting Ensemble: Gosford Park
Best Director: (TIE) Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind; Baz Luhrmann - Moulin Rouge
Best Screenplay: Memento - Christopher Nolan
Best Young Actor/Actress: Dakota Fanning - I Am Sam
Best Animated Feature: Shrek
Best Family Film (live action): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Best Picture Made for Television: Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows
Best Actor in a Picture Made for Television: James Franco - James Dean
Best Actress in a Picture Made for Television: Judy Davis - Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows
Best Foreign Language Film: Amelie
Best Song: (TIE) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - "May It Be" - Enya; Vanilla Sky - "Vanilla Sky" - Paul McCartney
Best Composer: Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Although an East Coast snowstorm put Saturday ticket sales in the deep freeze, there still was a blizzard of box office business this weekend for Black Hawk Down and Snow Dogs.
Down went wide with a record setting $34 million for the four day holiday weekend that on Monday honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Snow Dogs arrived to a hearty $22.5 million for Friday-Monday.
That was enough to end Lord of the Rings' four week chart topping reign, sending it to third place with a still solid $17.3 million. A Beautiful Mind continued to show beautiful legs, finishing fourth with $13 million.
Key films--those grossing $500,000 or more--took in about $143 million for the four day MLK weekend. Nonetheless, business slid nearly 14 percent from last year's King weekend (Jan. 12-15, 2001) when key films grossed $166.4 million.
THE TOP TEN
(NOTE: Today's projections are for the four day holiday weekend and are based on studio reports or industry estimates. Where available, estimates for the three day period from Friday-Sunday are also indicated parenthetically. Percentage comparisons are not indicated since the previous weekend was a regular three day weekend.)
Revolution Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' R rated drama Black Hawk Down went wide in its fourth week of release via Columbia Pictures with a high flying ESTIMATED $34.0 million at 3,101 theaters (+3,085 theaters; $10,964 per theater). Its cume is approximately $35.8 million. (For three days Sony said it did an ESTIMATED $29.0 million or $9,352 per theater.)
Down's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Josh Hartnett.
"It's the biggest Martin Luther King opening weekend ever," Sony Pictures Entertainment worldwide marketing &amp; distribution president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning. "The best thing last year was Save the Last Dance, which did $23.4 million for Friday-Saturday-Sunday and for four days was $27.5 million.
"Another statistic to note is that this certainly is a launch comparable to Saving Private Ryan, to which comparisons have been made (in terms of both being war dramas) although that was in July without the snow. That was $30.5 million on July 24, 1998."
Focusing on the growing importance of the MLK weekend, Blake observed, "This is a big number for the middle of January. There's no question about that. Despite obviously inclement weather on the East Coast, we couldn't be happier about the way things have turned out."
Clearly, Sony's strategy of putting Down in platform release during the holiday season in order to qualify it for Oscar consideration but holding off until the MLK weekend for its wide break turned out to be right on the money.
"There's no question," Blake said. "We always wanted both. We wanted, certainly, a chance to participate in the year-end award activities, but never at the expense of a big opening. And, yes, we now have both."
Buena Vista/Disney's PG rated family comedy Snow Dogs kicked off in second place, barking loudly with an ESTIMATED $22.5 million at 2,302 theaters ($9,774 per theater). (For three days Disney said it did an ESTIMATED $17.5 million or $7,622 per theater.)
Directed by Brian Levant, it stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and James Coburn.
"I am enjoying a fabulous weekend," Buena Vista Distribution president Chuck Viane said Sunday morning. "I wonder how big this weekend would have been if the weather didn't hit yesterday. The East Coast numbers are very soft because of the snow and the (football) game. But I'm not taking anything away (from how well Snow Dogs performed). This was just a really, really strong opening. I think it goes to show how much the public has enjoyed the comedy of Snow Dogs."
Asked about the MLK weekend's new strength, Viane replied, "I think it has become a much more celebrated weekend and it is setting itself up as one of the truly great grossing weekends of the year. Every year it seems to be getting stronger and stronger and, of course, people are releasing higher profile movies and I think that's all terrific."
Viane noted that when Disney held sneak previews of Snow Dogs on Jan. 5, "we had really, really strong exits. And then this weekend the public plunked down their money for it and the CinemaScores are really a validation of how much they liked the movie. It's got to be over the fact that it's a wonderful film to go lose yourself (in) for a couple hours of laughter. In the female category, all three (CinemaScore grades) were A's. And for males it was A for the under-21s and B's for the other two (age) categories."
New Line Cinema's PG-13 rated epic The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring fell two pegs to third place in its fifth week with a still solid ESTIMATED $17.25 million at 3,266 theaters (-115 theaters; $5,281 per theater). Its cume is approximately $250.2 million, heading for $300 million or more in domestic theaters. (For three days New Line said it did an ESTIMATED $13.03 million or $3,988 per theater.)
Directed by Peter Jackson, Rings' ensemble cast is led by Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen.
"We're just chugging along," New Line distribution president David Tuckerman said Sunday morning. "I think that if we don't win anything (in the Oscars) we're going to be about $300 million. I think if we win, we'll be at $350 million."
New Line, Tuckerman said, is planning "at some point in time to add (additional footage at the end of Rings that) will be a lot longer than a trailer, but I don't know how much longer. We're going to give (moviegoers) a preview of (the second episode of Rings). We're going to change the last reel out and do a preview of Two at the end of the last reel. (People) are screaming for it."
When would New Line do this? "I'm sure (it would be) after the Oscars are voted and the ballots are done," Tuckerman said. "I'm pretty certain we'll end up doing it."
Universal, DreamWorks and Imagine Entertainment's PG-13 rated drama A Beautiful Mind fell two rungs in its fifth week to fourth place with a still beautiful ESTIMATED $13.02 million at 2,225 theaters (+3 theaters; $5,850 per theater). Its cume is approximately $75.9 million, heading for $100 million-plus in domestic theaters. (For three days Universal said it did an ESTIMATED $11.0 million or $4,944 per theater.)
Directed by Ron Howard, the Brian Grazer production stars Russell Crowe, Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly.
"It's a great hold for three days and it's a great hold for four days," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said Sunday morning. "We're tremendously optimistic about the staying power of this picture."
Paramount and MTV Films' opening of the PG-13 rated youth appeal comedy Orange County dropped two notches to fifth place in its second week with a less tasty ESTIMATED $10.8 million at 2,317 theaters (theater count unchanged; $4,661 per theater). Its cume is approximately $28.7 million. (For three days Paramount said it did an ESTIMATED $9.0 million or $3,884 per theater.)
Directed by Jake Kasdan, it stars Colin Hanks and Jack Black.
Asked where Orange County is likely to wind up domestically, Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning, "In the area of $45-50 million, I think."
As for the MLK weekend, he added, "It's a big holiday. It's kind of hard to gauge it because the snowstorm yesterday took a chunk out of the middle. It probably will knock it down some. You may recover some of that business that we lost yesterday, but I don't think we can recover it all. It cost us $500,000 or $600,000 yesterday on Orange County and I think on Black Hawk Down it may have cost them a couple million dollars.
Warner Bros. PG-13 rated casino heist dramatic comedy Ocean's Eleven fell two pegs to sixth place in its sixth week, continuing to hold well with an ESTIMATED $6.71 million at 2,670 theaters (theater count unchanged; $2,511 per theater). Its cume is approximately $171.6 million, heading for $180-200 million in domestic theaters. (For three days Warner Bros. said it did an ESTIMATED $5.71 million or $2,137 per theater.)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the extensive cast includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.
Buena Vista/Touchstone's R rated drama The Royal Tenenbaums slipped two slots in its sixth week to seventh place with an okay ESTIMATED $5.0 million at 997 theaters (+92 theaters; $5,015 per theater). Its cume is approximately $37.0 million. (For three days Disney said it did an ESTIMATED $4.3 million or $4,367 per theater.)
Directed by Wes Anderson, it stars Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson.
Miramax's PG-13 rated romantic comedy Kate &amp; Leopold held on to eighth place in its fourth week with a still charming ESTIMATED $4.2 million at 2,381 theaters (-86 theaters; $1,764 per theater). Its cume is approximately $42.8 million. (For three days Miramax said it did an ESTIMATED $3.4 million or $1,428 per theater.)
Directed by James Mangold, it stars Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.
Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' G rated animated feature Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which was sixth last week, tied for ninth place in its fifth week with a less smart ESTIMATED $4.0 million at 2,506 theaters (-304 theaters; $1,596 per theater). Its cume is approximately $73.8 million, heading for about $85 million in domestic theaters. (For three days Paramount said it did an ESTIMATED $3.0 million or $1,197 per theater.)
Directed by John A Davis, it was produced by Steve Oedekerk, Davis and Albie Hecht.
USA Films' R rated whodunit Gosford Park, a likely Oscar contender, went wider in its fourth week. Gosford, which was ninth last week, tied for ninth place with a rousing ESTIMATED $4.0 million at 658 theaters (+140 theaters; $6,079 per theater). Its cume is approximately $11.6 million. (For three days USA Films said it did an ESTIMATED $3.3 million or $5,037 per theater.)
Directed by Robert Altman and starring an extensive ensemble cast, it was written by Julian Fellowes and produced by Altman, Bob Balaban and David Levy.
"We went into regional markets and small towns and the timing was right because it performed very nicely in those towns," USA Films distribution president Jack Foley said Sunday morning. "As it expands out into the country, it seems that each market is ready to embrace the film. Its holding power in the markets that we've opened has been very, very strong.
"The only disappointment for everybody was the weather in the East. But despite all that, the film (did) beautifully. We're heading very quickly to exceeding all of Altman's most recent films (at the) box office--the biggest being Dr. T &amp; the Women with $13 million. And we're on our way to The Player, which did $21 million."
Although Paramount's R rated Vanilla Sky was slightly ahead of its family appeal Jimmy Neutron for three days (about $3.1 million vs. $3.0 million), Jimmy Neutron is expected to overtake it on a four day basis (about $4.0 million vs. $3.6 million). Jimmy Neutron should benefit from the fact that about 80 percent of U.S. schools will be closed Monday in observance of Dr. King's birthday.
OTHER OPENINGS
This weekend also saw the arrival of Miramax's R rated romantic comedy Italian For Beginners to an encouraging ESTIMATED $0.062 million at 3 theaters ($20,667 per theater). (For three days Miramax said it did an ESTIMATED $0.055 million or $18,333 per theater.)
Directed by Lone Scherfig, it stars Anders Berthelsen.
SNEAK PREVIEWS
New Line Cinema held 504 sneak previews Saturday night of its PG-13 rated drama I Am Sam.
Directed by Jessie Nelson, it stars Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer.
"The sneaks were 75 percent full," New Line's David Tuckerman said Sunday morning. "That 75 percent is excellent because of the huge snowstorm in the Northeast. The Top Two Boxes (excellent and very good) were 96 percent, so they really liked the movie. It was 56 percent female and 44 percent male."
This Friday (Jan. 25) I Am Sam will expand to about 1,200 theaters.
EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend Miramax's R rated Oscar contender drama In the Bedroom widened in its ninth week with a still encouraging ESTIMATED $2.7 million at 457 theaters (+33 theaters; $5,908 per theater. Its cume is approximately $11.5 million. (For three days Miramax said it did an ESTIMATED $2.1 million or $4,595 per theater.)
Directed by Todd Field, it stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei.
Miramax's R rated drama The Shipping News went wider in its fourth week with a quiet ESTIMATED $1.7 million at 434 theaters (+166 theaters; $3,917 per theater). Its cume is approximately $8.1 million. (For three days Miramax said it did an ESTIMATED $1.3 million or $2,995 per theater.)
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, it stars Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.
Universal's R rated fantasy thriller Brotherhood of the Wolf expanded in its second week to a promising ESTIMATED $1.34 million at 107 theaters (+86 theaters; $12,510 per theater). Its cume is approximately $2.1 million.
Directed by Christopher Gans, it stars Samuel Le Bihan.
Miramax Zoe Films' R rated French comedy Amelie expanded in its 12th week with a cheerful ESTIMATED $1.4 million at 298 theaters (+38 theaters; $4,698 per theater. Its cume is approximately $21.1 million. (For three days Miramax said it did an ESTIMATED $1.05 million or $3,523 per theater.)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it stars Audrey Tautou.
Lions Gate Films' R rated drama Monster's Ball added theaters in its fourth week with a hopeful ESTIMATED $0.2 million at 11 theaters (+3 theater; $17,793 per theater). Its cume is approximately $0.8 million.
Directed by Marc Foster, it stars Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger and Peter Boyle.
Universal's R rated drama Mulholland Drive expanded in its 15th week with a slow ESTIMATED $0.15 million at 111 theaters (+13 theaters; $1,355 per theater). Its cume is approximately $6.2 million.
Written and directed by David Lynch, it stars Justin Theroux and Naomi Watts.
INTERNATIONAL
Universal's international division reported that American Pie 2 has surpassed the original American Pie at the international box office. Pie 2's cume to date is $133.5 million compared to the first film's total gross of $132.9 million.
Pie 2 ranked first in Mexico for the consecutive second week with a two day gross of $0.54 million on 245 screens and a 20 percent market share. Pie 2 was 32 percent ahead of Behind Enemy Lines, which opened this weekend. Pie 2's cume after nine days in Mexico is $2.8 million, which is 239 percent ahead of American Pie.
In Argentina, Pie 2 finished second in its second week with a 3-day gross of $75,000 on 56 screens, just slightly behind Harry Potter with $76,000. Pie 2's cume after 10 days is $0.4 million.
Pie 2 continued to hold well in Brazil where in its fifth week it ranked eighth. Its two day gross this weekend is $0.1 million on 140 screens. Its 30-day cume is $2.9 million.
Long Time Dead opened in the U.K. this weekend to $0.58 million on 230 screens for two days. Dead ranked fifth on the chart behind Lord of the Rings, which had been number one in the U.K. for five weeks.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films--those grossing more than $500,000--took in approximately $143.3 million. Comparisons with last year are not valid because the comparable weekend last year was a regular three day weekend. Compared to MLK weekend in 2001, which fell one week earlier than it did this year, key films were down 13.88 percent.
This weekend's key film gross for four days cannot be compared to the previous weekend of this year, which was a regular three day weekend.
Last year, Paramount's second week of Save the Last Dance was first with $15.37 million at 2,539 theaters ($6,052 per theater); and Fox's fifth week of Cast Away was second with $11.15 million at 3,061 theaters ($3,643 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $26.6 million for three days. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $46.5 million for three days and $56.5 million for four days.

Moviegoers aren't bored of the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring yet. They spent another $16.2 million on Rings tickets, many of them for repeat viewings, keeping it in first place for a fourth consecutive weekend.
Also driving the box office were good expansions for A Beautiful Mind and The Royal Tenenbaums, a tasty Orange County opening and solid holdover business for Ocean's Eleven.
Key films -- those grossing at least $500,000 -- took in about $103.5 million, a solid total for the second weekend of the New Year. Comparisons to last year aren't valid since the comparable 2001 weekend was the four-day Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, which fell a week earlier than it does this year.
THE TOP TEN
New Line Cinema's PG-13 rated epic The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring held on to first place for a fourth consecutive week with a still impressive ESTIMATED $16.15 million (-30%) at 3,381 theaters (theater count unchanged; $4,777 per theater). Its cume is approximately $228.3 million, heading for $300 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Peter Jackson, Rings' ensemble cast is led by Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen.
Noting that Rings is heading for $300 million domestically, New Line distribution president David Tuckerman said Sunday morning, "It could do more. I think the (Academy) Awards are going to determine where this finally settles itself in. A lot of nominations will help and if we win anything it'll help. I think that will determine where this picture ultimately shows up. The Globes are going to help us, also. The Globes will give us a bump, if it happens."
Focusing on the film's performance abroad, Tuckerman pointed out, "This weekend we crossed over $500 million internationally all together. And we haven't opened Japan yet, which is going to be a huge market for us. The mysticism of this picture and the Japanese (are a perfect fit). Japan opens in a couple of weeks."
Universal, DreamWorks and Imagine Entertainment's PG-13 rated drama A Beautiful Mind went wider in its fourth week, holding on to second place with a solid ESTIMATED $15.81 million (-5%) at 2,222 theaters (+369 theaters; $7,115 per theater). Its cume is approximately $59.0 million, heading for $100 million-plus in domestic theaters.
Directed by Ron Howard, the Brian Grazer production stars Russell Crowe, Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly.
Mind was honored Friday night as the best film of the year by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Howard tied for best director with Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann. Crowe was named best actor and Connelly was voted best supporting actress. In other key awards, the group named Sissy Spacek best actress for In the Bedroom and Ben Kingsley best supporting actor for Sexy Beast. Lord of the Rings won best composer (Howard Shore) and shared best song honors (Enya) with Vanilla Sky (Paul McCartney).
Mind's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in over 1,000 theaters this weekend.
"The studio continues to feel really optimistic about the film's performance," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said Sunday morning. "We're coming into the awards season, which began Friday night with the Broadcast Film Critics, and it's evident that Beautiful Mind continues to be the darling."
Mind is nominated for six Golden Globes, including best picture, actor, director, supporting actress, screenplay (Akiva Goldsman) and original score (James Horner). It is on most Hollywood handicappers' short lists as a likely major contender for prime Oscar nominations, including best picture.
Paramount and MTV Films' opening of the PG-13 rated youth appeal comedy Orange County finished third with a healthy ESTIMATED $15.1 million at 2,317 theaters ($6,527 per theater).
Directed by Jake Kasdan, it stars Colin Hanks and Jack Black.
"We're happy with it," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning. "This is on the high end of where we expected it to be."
Asked what he thought made the film work so well, Lewellen replied, "One was obviously the (marketing) campaign on the picture. I think the support from MTV and the fact that it was the only new picture coming into the marketplace was a big help, too."
Looking at the overall marketplace, Lewellen noted, "Everything that was in the market also help up well. I think it says that when these pictures have a little room to breathe, not only the new openings but the product that's in the marketplace can hold up very well."
Warner Bros. PG-13 rated casino heist dramatic comedy Ocean's Eleven fell one rung to fourth place in its fifth week, still holding strongly with an ESTIMATED $7.54 million (-32%) at 2,670 theaters (-100 theaters; $2,822 per theater). Its cume is approximately $162.5 million, heading for $180-200 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Ocean's extensive cast includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.
"We're thrilled with its success," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning. "This movie has incredible legs and the audience has just continued to support it. It's very strong especially on
Saturdays and Sundays."
Buena Vista/Touchstone's R rated drama The Royal Tenenbaums expanded again in its fifth week, holding on to fifth place with a still encouraging ESTIMATED $6.37 million (-25%) at 905 theaters (+154 theaters; $7,042 per theater). Its cume is approximately $29.9 million.
Directed by Wes Anderson, it stars Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson.
Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' G rated animated feature Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius fell two slots to sixth place in its fourth week with a slower ESTIMATED $5.5 million (-39%) at 2,810 theaters (-341 theaters; $1,957 per theater). Its cume is approximately $69.0 million, heading for about $85 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by John A. Davis, it was produced by Steve Oedekerk, Davis and Albie Hecht.
Paramount's R rated romantic thriller Vanilla Sky, which was sixth a week earlier, tied for seventh place in its fifth week with a quieter ESTIMATED $5.0 million (-30%) at 2,770 theaters (-72 theaters; $1,805 per theater). Its cume is approximately $88.4 million, heading for about $105 million in domestic theaters.
Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, it stars Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor and Cameron Diaz.
Miramax's PG-13 rated romantic comedy Kate &amp; Leopold, which was eighth a week earlier, tied for seventh place in its third week with an engaging ESTIMATED $5.0 million (-20%) at 2,467 theaters (theater count unchanged; $2,026 per theater). Its cume is approximately $37.4 million.
Directed by James Mangold, it stars Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.
USA Films' R rated whodunit Gosford Park, a likely Oscar contender, went wider in its third week, placing ninth with a jolly good ESTIMATED $3.79 million at 518 theaters (+387 theaters; $7,307 per theater). Its cume is approximately $6.7 million.
Directed by Robert Altman and starring an extensive ensemble cast, it was written by Julian Fellowes and produced by Altman, Bob Balaban and David Levy.
"The business yesterday was outrageous," USA Films distribution president Jack Foley said Sunday morning. "It's just so good. It's breaking out!"
Looking ahead, Foley said, the film should "finish the week with probably another $1.4 million (bringing it to) about $8.1 million and go into next weekend with an additional 100-plus theaters. I'm already sitting on 100 more runs right now for next week. And being that it is the holiday weekend, I'll get up as high as I can. If I can get (up to) 800, I'd do that because I want to exploit the Golden Globes, the holiday weekend and moving out of the Golden Globes into the (next weekend) with as much broadening as I can.
"I know I can be aggressive now because the film has demonstrated its accessibility in the marketplace. It demonstrated it in Nashville, where yesterday we did about $5,000 (and in) Tallahassee with $3,000 and Baton Rouge with $3,000. The suburbs and the small regional markets are all cranking. So I feel confident that we can go up to the next level."
If all goes well, Foley explained, by Jan. 24 "this $6.7 million that's going to turn into $8.1 million (by Jan. 18) is going to be over $13 million. It will be the biggest grossing Altman film in recent history because we'll surpass Dr. T and the Women at that point. Dr. T did about $12.2 million. Obviously, with the momentum the film is carrying right now, we've got a long way to go. It's very exciting because at this stage of the game it's going to take out The Player, too, which was about $21 million."
Rounding out the Top Ten was Warner Bros.' mega-blockbuster Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, down one rung in its ninth week with a calm ESTIMATED $3.4 million (-44%) at 2,170 theaters (-511 theaters; $1,567 per theater). Its cume is approximately $305.0 million, heading for $320 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Chris Columbus, Harry stars Daniel Radcliffe in its title role.
OTHER OPENINGS
This weekend also saw Universal's R rated fantasy thriller Brotherhood of the Wolf arrive to a biting ESTIMATED $0.47 million at 21 theaters
($22,523 per theater).
Directed by Christopher Gans, it stars Samuel Le Bihan.
SNEAK PREVIEWS
There were no national sneak previews this weekend.
EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend Columbia Pictures and Initial Entertainment Group's R rated drama Ali added theaters in its third week with a calm ESTIMATED $3.2 million (-54%) at 2,521 theaters (+75 theaters; $1,259 per theater). Its cume is approximately $54.4 million, heading for $65 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Michael Mann, it stars Will Smith.
Miramax's R rated Oscar contender drama In the Bedroom widened in its eighth week with a still attractive ESTIMATED $3.1 million at 424 theaters (+217 theaters; $7,350 per theater. Its cume is approximately $8.1 million.
Directed by Todd Field, it stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei.
Miramax's R rated drama The Shipping News went wider in its third week with a choppy ESTIMATED $1.25 million at 266 theaters (+53 theaters; $4,700 per theater). Its cume is approximately $6.0 million.
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, it stars Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.
Miramax Zoe Films' R rated French comedy Amelie expanded in its eleventh week with an encouraging ESTIMATED $1.1 million at 260 theaters (+33 theaters; $4,230 per theater. Its cume is approximately $19.3 million.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it stars Audrey Tautou.
Revolution Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' R rated drama Black Hawk Down continued to fly high in its third week of platform release via Columbia Pictures with an ESTIMATED $0.73 million at 16 theaters (+12 theaters; $45,313 per theater). Its cume is approximately $1.5 million.
Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Josh Hartnett.
"We are on 16 screens exclusively in New York and Los Angeles -- four in New York and 12 in Los Angeles," Sony Pictures Entertainment spokesman Steve Elzer said Sunday morning. "The business since we opened has been nearly at capacity. That will go on 3,000 screens (starting Friday, Jan. 18). The tracking on it is really phenomenal. It's been building since Day One. You really couldn't hope for a better strategy to be in place to knock this thing out of the park. It's finding its audience and I think next weekend it will be the story."
Warner Bros.' PG-13 World War II drama Charlotte Gray expanded quietly in its third week with an ESTIMATED $0.18 million at 52 theaters (+47 theaters; $3,423 per theater). Its cume is approximately $0.3 million.
Directed by Gillian Armstrong, it stars Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup and Michael Gambon.
Universal's R rated drama Mulholland Drive expanded in its 14th week with a quiet ESTIMATED $0.16 million at 96 theaters (+19 theaters; $1,630 per theater). Its cume is approximately $6.0 million.
Written and directed by David Lynch, it stars Justin Theroux and Naomi Watts.
USA Films' R rated black-and-white drama The Man Who Wasn't There went wider in its eleventh week with a slow ESTIMATED $0.1 million at 132 theaters (+40 theaters; $765 per theater). Its cume is approximately $7.1 million.
Directed by Joel Coen and written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, it stars Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand.
United Artists' R rated Bosnian war drama No Man's Land, an MGM release, went wider in its sixth week with a quiet ESTIMATED $0.035 million at 17 theaters (+4 theaters; $2,070 per theater). Its cume is approximately $0.35 million.
Written and directed by Danis Tanovic, it won the best screenplay award in Cannes last May and was a hit at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Land is Bosnia's first official Oscar entry.
INTERNATIONAL
Universal's international division reported that it enjoyed strong for American Pie 2 in both Argentina and Mexico.
Pie 2 finished first in Argentina with a three day gross of $0.3 million on 56 screens, representing a market share of about 25 percent. Pie 2 was 40 percent bigger than the second ranking film Jeepers Creepers and was 32 percent bigger than the original American Pie was in Argentina. The studio noted that the picture's strong performance came during a period of economic and political upheaval in the country.
Pie 2 also opened in first place in Mexico with a hot two-day gross of $.82 million on 250 screens, representing about 25 percent of the marketplace. It was 38 percent bigger than the number two film Spy Game (released in Mexico by Nuvision) and was a whopping 245 percent bigger than the first American Pie. The sequel's two-day gross was 23 percent bigger than the entire first week for American Pie.
In Brazil Pie 2 continued to hold strong in its third week, placing fifth. Its cume after 23 days in Brazil is $2.6 million.
Pie 2's international cume to date is $131 million.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films -- those grossing more than $500,000 -- took in approximately $103.53 million. Comparisons with last year are not valid because the comparable weekend last year was the four-day Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday weekend. This weekend's key film gross was down about 13.41 percent from $119.57 million for the previous weekend.
Last year, Paramount's opening week of Save the Last Dance was first with $27.53 million at 2,230 theaters ($12,344 per theater); and Fox's fourth week of Cast Away was second with $19.78 million at 3,048 theaters ($6,489 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $47.3 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $32.0 million.